


set you free

by overjoyed (heavydiirtysoul)



Series: 30 Days of Dyle [2]
Category: Bastille (Band)
Genre: Early Days, M/M, Pet Names, dyle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 09:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11941299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavydiirtysoul/pseuds/overjoyed
Summary: It's all just fun and games until you fall in love.





	set you free

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2:  
> Pet Names

It always starts with jokes.

They've barely known each other for more than three months when Kyle calls him 'babe' for the first time. They're probably way too drunk to remember this later on, Dan figures, head rolled back on the couch, Kyle's head in his lap, hand buried in hair and tugging a little just for good measure. Simply drunk shenanigans, he thinks, and grabs a fistful of Kyle's hair again, laughs. "What did you just call me?"

"Babe. I think. But I might've misheard myself."

"I think you _really_ said babe." He laughs again, quieter. He's never really had a friend as touchy-feely as Kyle, but he likes it. A lot.

"I like that", he articulates the thought, words just slightly slurred. Maybe he's not drunk enough to forget, after all.

***

It becomes a habit far quicker than he expected - he's _babe_ , Kyle is just Kyle. Dan isn't as careless as Kyle, guards his words more. 

The payback always comes when he's drunk, loosens up enough to not mind what others might think. Then it's all laughs and sometimes holding hands and babe, babe, babe, _god_ , he doesn't think he'll ever get enough of this, of Kyle, of being close when you know you can always blame the booze the next day.

It doesn't have consequences, and he likes that. Maybe needs that. Can't really let himself go the way he does when he's drunk, and a small part of him is more than disappointed about that. A small part that wants to hold hands when he's sober. Maybe wants to steal a kiss or two or maybe just a peck on the nose when Kyle's snoring quietly on the couch and Dan can't sleep again because the mere thought of Kyle in the room next to his is enough to keep him awake.

It always starts with jokes, and then it gets serious, and then it ends.

So he prefers sticking to the jokes.

***

"You're ridiculous, babe", Kyle snorts and leans over, grabs the half-empty bottle of whiskey from where it was leaning against the couch. 

Dan is pretty sure that whatever he's said wasn't as funny as Kyle is making it out to be, but when Kyle laughs Dan can't help but laugh with him. He's contagious.

"And you're contagious", he says, and then wishes he hadn't said it, because Kyle looks surprised and intrigued and Dan knows that look. Knows he's gonna have to explain.

"Your laugh", he corrects. "I always have to laugh too, even if nothing's funny."

"Mh." Kyle is in thought, takes another deep swig from the bottle.

He doesn't remember when exactly they'd landed on the floor, but they're here now, sitting with their backs against the couch and their legs long and lazy on the old carpet of his flat. Kyle's hand is right there on his leg, and he really wants to hold it, but it's not a moment like that. It's too serious. It can't be serious, that's too dangerous.

Another sip later, and Kyle deliberately screws close the cap of the bottle and places it neatly on the floor, an arms length away from them.

Dan thinks he knows what Kyle wants to do, and it sends bolts of heat through his entire body, makes him numb and all the more aware of every single detail at the same time. It's terrifying and exciting and he knows he can't do it.

It's like the air is honey, that's how hard it is to breathe. Like the space around them is electric. 

He runs. 

Metaphorically, but he runs.

"I'm gonna go take a wee", he says before Kyle can get in a word, so maybe it's not just metaphorical running after all. His voice is hollow and echoes uncomfortably in his ears, and Kyle nods and the moment is gone and Dan swears to himself - this has to stop. Even if it's never really begun in the first place.

***

It doesn't stop.

It's their first tour, and busses are small and you can hardly avoid being close. Not that he absolutely wanted to avoid being close to Kyle, in contrary - and that was the issue at hand. It's hard to hide anything when you basically live on top of each other for weeks on end.

"Coffee break", Will declares and Dan almost exhales loudly with relief. The night was short and he's running on nothing but the sheer desperate power of exhaustion and adrenaline. Coffee sounds like heaven.

The small highway café is basically empty. Will and Woody go on to place their orders, and Dan excuses himself to the bathroom. Knows Kyle is following, doesn't think much of it. Nothing unsettling about using highway restrooms, now is there?

And then Kyle's all over him, pins him against the wall, cold tiles in his back, and his first instinct is to fight, but Kyle is so overwhelmingly close and warm and all-embracing that there isn't a muscle in his body he could move. 

"Can I kiss you?" 

It's barely audible, but they're so close that Dan could swear the rhythm of Kyle's heart is loud enough to be heard in the shop outside. Can feel his shallow, short breaths on his own lips. He's nervous. They both are, and it's okay.

It's not extremely pleasant for a first kiss, he's so acutely aware of everything wrong with it that he can't stop giggling into Kyle's mouth. There's a small bump in the wall in his back where the tiles aren't lined up properly. Kyle's beard is _very_ scratchy. His hands are sweaty and limp and don't even feel like they belong to him anymore, hanging down his sides like dead fish, and Kyle is just standing there pressed against him, and it's all very weird.

Maybe first kisses always are.

"That was weird", he articulates and Kyle agrees. 

"There's always a next time."

The prospect is exciting and exhilarating and absolutely, unbelievably terrifying.

***

Kyle is right. He kind of always is.

Tour is a really strange time, and by the end of it, he thinks he might've imagined that restroom. Maybe it had just been a dream, nothing to worry about. 

But they get home, and instead of leaving like the other guys after a big goodbye, Kyle stays.

"So", he says, and the implications are endless.

"So", Dan replies, and then they just stand there for a few moments, eyes glued to each other in quiet anticipation of what might or might not happen.

Looking back, Dan thinks that might've been the moment he actually fell in love with Kyle. 

Not like love at first sight, but then again, it still kind of felt like seeing each other for the first time, in the quiet, warm light of the early sunset that filtered through the curtains, in the thousands and thousands of specs of dust surrounding them, and for a second there, Dan would swear time was standing still.

But the earth keeps turning, and Kyle crosses the distance between them with one step, and it might've been a hug at first, but then it's a kiss and this time, it isn't awkward or weird. It's just warm and hungry and he can't get enough, can't stop his hands from roaming, from mapping out veins and muscle and skin.

Much later that night, in the comfort of thick sheets and safely tucked away in a warmth radiating from a body that isn't his, Dan thinks that this is what coming home should feel like.

Being in love is a lot better than being afraid, he concludes, and he almost wakes up Kyle to tell him his findings. But then again, there's always a tomorrow, and he really cannot wait for theirs.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm doing a 30 day challenge that I found to get back into writing. So, short and sweet, and hopefully every day, there will be a new little something.


End file.
